Dear !*TITLE*! !*LASTNAME*!,
Our first event in 2015 is a Club Evening/Shinnenkai Party at the newly opened Scandinavian Center/Moomin Kindergarten in Akasaka. Note that the registration dead-line is on Monday. For details, see below!
The next event is a joint event with other Nordic Chambers - A Team Building Bowling Competition on Wednesday, 4 February.
Read more below!
In this issue we also have the first contribution in the new year from our columnist in his Aoyama View column, this time titled "Watching AKB48, Eating Mochi, Spending JPY 96 Trillion
- Japan of to a Better 2015 After So-So 2014
".
Click banner at right for an interesting read!

Wednesday, 21 January - FCCJ "Shinnenkai" Party
Club Evening at the Scandinavian Center/Moomin Kindergarten
Our first event in 2015 will be a "Shinnenkai" Club Evening, held on Wednesday, 21 January. This time we will have a new venue, the Scandinavian Center/Moomin Kindergarten in Akasaka, which opened in December.
Come and meet old and new friends in a relaxing atmosphere accompanied by food and drinks! We encourage you also to invite other members of your staff and/or your spouse!Details:

The Swedish Chamber (SCCJ) has kindly invited the other Nordic Chambers to one of their most popular annual events, the Team Building Bowling Competition held at Tokyo Port Bowl in Shibaura.
Professional Bowlers, beginners are equally most welcome! It is a team competition, each team consists of four player and each player play two games. Make your own team with your colleagues and business partners, spouses are very welcome!
Details:

New Book in Japanese:
"Everyday Life in Finland"
Monika Luukkonen's new book,
"Everyday Life in Finland", is about the Finnish lifestyle, published by Graphicsha in Japan.
Ms. Luukkonen explains: "My idea was to portray an authentic image of the Finnish lifestyle as I see it as a Finn. There are some polished, interior design magazine type books about Finland on the market but my idea was to show Finland as it is in the real life and to do with high-quality photography (also taken by a Finnish photographer, Katariina Jarvinen). In the book, I talk about the Finnish design and architecture, winter, day-to-day habits of Finns, gardening, forests, the sauna culture, summer houses and give typical home-meal recipes. As I have lived in Japan for a couple times myself and have done business with the Japanese since the 1990s (including have had a small exports business selling Finnish design products to Japan), I felt that knowing at least something about the taste of Japanese people helped me to taylor-make this book to suit the Japanese readers. The book also includes tips how you can apply a touch of Finnish lifestyle to your daily life in Japan."
This book is available through Amazon Japan and bookshops around Japan. In addition to being a read for Finland enthusiasts, I think this book would also work well as a business present as it gives a wide insight into Finland, Finnish culture and way of thinking.
Please click links (in Japanese) below for more information on the book from the publisher's web site and to the Amazon page were you can buy the book.

News from FinlandLatest indicators: Finnish economy stagnating
Between November and December consumer prices edged downward, driven by cheaper fuel, electronics and second-hand cars.
Statistics Finland released more figures on Wednesday signalling that the Finnish economy is virtually stagnant.
From November to December, overall consumer prices nudged down by one-tenth of a percent, led by lower fuel costs. Compared with a year earlier, prices for entertainment, electronics and used cars also declined.
Year-on-year inflation in December was just barely that - with the consumer price index edging up just half of a percent. In November - and overall in 2014 - prices rose at an annual rate of one percent. The incremental price rises in December were driven by higher rents and apartment maintenance service charges, as well as an increase in the cost of tobacco products.
Eurostat recently announced that the 18-nation eurozone slipped into deflation last month for the first time in five years.

Grin of the WeekSam Ting...
This guy is walking through Chinatown and sees a building with a sign "Hans Olofsson's Laundry." "Hans Olaffsen?", he thinks. "How in the world does that fit in here?"
So, he walks into the shop and sees an old Chinese gentleman sitting in the corner. The visitor asks, "How in the world did this place get a name like Hans Olaffsen's Laundry?"
The old man answers "Is name of owner."
The visitor asks "Well, who is the owner?"
"I am he," answers the old man.
"You? How did you ever get a name like Hans Olofsson?"
The old man replies, "Many years ago when I come to this country, I was standing in line at Documentation Center. Man in front of me was big blonde Swede. Lady look at him and go, "What your name?" He say, " Hans Olofsson." She look at me say, "What your name?" I say, "Sam Ting."

If you have any comments, rumors, gossip or inside information, send it to: fccj@gol.com

ABOUT THIS BULLETIN
This bulletin is
published by the Finnish Chamber of Commerce in Japan (FCCJ) and
distributed to over 650 recipients among its members and related
organizations. FCCJ was established in April 1999 to promote trade and
economic exchange between Japan and Finland and has today 64 corporate
members, 12 individual and one special member.